Mas Alto, Fuse Box open at Hole In The Wall

Hole In The Wall is located along Coffee Tree Mall besides Cristiano’s near the American Memorial Park parking lot in Garapan. (MARK RABAGO)

For its initial offering, shared kitchen concept Hole In The Wall has partnered with chefs from Mas Alto and Fuse Box to bring exciting and one-of-a-kind dishes to the local palate.

Ran by brothers Edgar and Eric Barajas, Mas Alto whips up genuine Mexican fare, according to Hole In The Wall co-owner Clint Albert.

“It’s very authentic Mexican food. We have a lot of restaurants that serve Americanized Mexican food or what they call Tex-Mex, but here it’s really authentic Mexican food,” he said.

Mas Alto’s current menu is short but sweet, with birria burritos its runaway bestseller so far.

Edgar said that, contrary to popular belief, birria is actually not a type of meat, but is a style of cooking they do south of the border. “It’s kind of like pulled pork and the hot sauce is the bomb,” he said.

Mas Alto’s burritos also come in al pastor or chorizo.

The guerilla kitchen also serves up one of the island’s most flavorful tortas, or Mexican sub sandwiches, and it comes, you guessed right, in birria, al pastor, and chorizo. Desserts include churros (with chocolate dipping sauce) and arroz con leche, which is rice with sweet milk and raisins.

For drinks, Mas Alto offers up Jamaica, which is ice-cold team made from hibiscus, and horchata, which is a sweet cold drink made from rice milk and cinnamon.

“Edgar and Eric grew up in California but are of Mexican decent so they live and breathe Mexican food,” said Albert.

Fuse Box, which Albert co-owns, like its name already suggests is a fusion kitchen and its chefs are Bayden Blake and Marley Partain.

“It’s fusion food mainly derived from local, American, and Asian food. Everything we do we infuse Asian and we infuse local,” he said.

Currently, its bestseller is the chicken teriyaki bao, which in itself is an amalgamation of Chinese, Japanese, and American styles of cooking preparation.

“For example, the bao itself is Chinese, who are famous for siopao, and then chicken teriyaki is basically almost like a Japanese dish and we infuse it with a little bit of American-style presentation. It’s like a mini slider,” he said.

From left, Bayden Blake, Marley Partain, Izabela Guerrero, and Edgar and Eric Barajas make up the crew at Hole In The Wall’s Fusion Box and Mas Alto. (MARK RABAGO)

Albert said the chicken teriyaki bao is pretty much how Fuse Box imagines all their dishes.

“Let’s say the loco moco. We have loco moco everywhere on island but our take on it is we infuse it with our own ingredients just to make it a little bit local,” he said.

Fuse Box is also launching ice cream floats this week and while they will serve traditional ones, they’re also leaning toward offering ice cream floats with coconut in them instead of just plain vanilla.

Also in the menu are rice bowls like lechon kawali and sisig and chicken karaage, sushi that comes in five pieces, burgers (try the Fusebox Burger), pasta, and plenty of side dishes like salted egg wings, karaage fries, and chili bombs.

Mas Alto and Fusion Box is open from Monday to Saturday, 10am-2pm. They’re also trying out a Friday after-hours concept today, 6:30pm-9:30pm, with only special items on the menu.

Albert said he couldn’t ask for better start for Hole In The Wall. “Reception has been great. Business was bit slow on the first week but on the second week it sort of doubled and tripled right away.”

While it has a small two-table el fresco setup, Albert said Hole In The Wall wasn’t originally planned and organically turned that way.

“Hope people would support us, especially with all these COVID-19 cases. This is a perfect open space if you want to dine in,” he said.

Hole In The Wall is located along Coffee Tree Mall besides Cristiano’s near the American Memorial Park parking lot in Garapan. For orders and for more information, call (670) 286-0451 or go to their Facebook page (Hole In The Wall 670).